Author: clay

Categories
MLB General

Baseball gets juiced


If America’s pastime just isn’t cutting it for you anymore, you should take a look at the latest craze destined to flop all across the nation. And if you thought that the XFL was whack, just wait til you get a load of the NXBL or National Extreme Baseball League.

From what we can tell, it’s basically like having both sides playing at the same time. There are two diamonds, two batters boxes, two pitching mounds and both teams have their traditional fielding positions out on the grass. Pitchers alternate pitches and the fielders only field when their pitcher has thrown to the opposing batter.

This “revolutionary” sport was created in 2006 but the league’s official inaugural season will be in 2008 and we’re sure that the American public is eagerly anticipating the first pitch. And in case you were wondering about the legitimacy of the league, here’s the NXBL’s mission statement.

To serve the public with passion as a quality example of excellence on the field, in the office, and within the community by consistently exceeding our customers’ expectations by demonstrating the highest character, appreciation and respect for our game, customers, teammates and partners as an economical and visionary organization providing a totally unique entertainment experience.

Hey, at least they are pretending that this is an actual sport.

Links:

[N-XBL.com]: National Extreme Baseball League

Categories
General Sports

My big fat Greek riot



This should be the only time we hear about
women’s volleyball!

We here in the good ol’ US of A don’t really care about women’s volleyball. Sure, the guys will come out in droves to see Gabrielle Reece or Misty May sport a swimsuit during a traveling beach volleyball competition but that’s about all the fanfare there is. Not like in Greece where they take their women’s volleyball very seriously.

A riot broke out near Athens on Thursday between fans of Panathinaikos Athens and Olympiakos Piraeus as the rivals decided to take the match to the streets. One man was killed in the melee and seven others were taken to the hospital with injuries. If that’s not bad enough, the Greek government has suspended all professional sporting teams from competition until April 13. That ban includes basketball, volleyball, soccer and several other sports.

Violence in sport is something that affects our entire society … and cannot be tolerated,” government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said Friday. He went on to say, “These crimes are not anonymous. Specific people are responsible.

And those specific people have rioting down to a science. Two cars and three stores were destroyed as several dozen fans arrived to the riot on motorcycles and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the surrounding mob. After the commotion finally subdued, the po-pos raided 15 different clubs that were considered to be supporters of the two volleyball squads and the evidence they found isn’t going to be very helpful to the teams’ fans. Police recovered tons o’ weapons that included pick axes, iron bars and baseball bats.

Suddenly, the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry seems like just some old friends getting together for an afternoon of camaraderie and friendly competition.

Links:

[Local10.com]: Greece suspends pro team sports for two weeks
[Reuters]: 3-sport-Greece suspends team matches after fan death

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Memphis wins again?!


1. The Grizz are rollin’!
For the first time all season, the Grizzlies have finally won two games in a row after they knocked off the Lakers on Tuesday and then the Trailblazers last night. Pau Gasol has been playing some excellent ball lately but it took an entire team effort to overcome Zach Randolph and his 43 point, 17 rebound performance. What’s even better fot Memphis is that they actually have a shot at extending this win streak. Tonight they will to Seattle to play a banged up Sonics squad before receiving a pretty tough test Golden State on Sunday. The Warriors sit just one game out of the playoff picture, so they should ready to put away the Gizz if they truly want to make a post season appearance.

2. Total eclipse of the Suns

It’s not very often that the Suns are the team getting run up and down the court by their opponents, but that was exactly what happened last night as the Warriors gave Phoenix a taste of their own medicine. Golden State opened the game by scoring 45 points in the first quarter before finishing the first half with a whopping 77 points and a 14 point advantage. The Suns struggled to fill the hoop with as much frequency as their opponents until the fourth quarter when they managed to outscore the Warriors 18 points but that was only good enough to get them within five points at the final buzzer. The Suns have been slipping in the standings lately, thanks to a 6-4 record over their last 10 games, and now they are just two games ahead of the Spurs for second place in the West. Next Thursday the two teams will get together for what should be a barn burner in San Antonio.

3. Chicago showdown
With a two point victory over the Pistons last night, Chicago was able to clinch a post season spot. Ben Wallace had a big game against his old team and helped to reverse a trend that has been plaguing the Bulls since Michael Jordan retired. Since 1998, the Pistons have owned the Bulls inside of the house that Jordan built, also known as the United Center, to the tune of winning 15 of their last 18 in the building. Now, Big Ben knows what it is like to be on both winning sides of the rivalry, but he almost didn’t get the chance to enjoy it. With under three minutes remaining in the game, Ben Gordon went to the line and missed three consecutive free throws which left the door open for the Pistons to take over. But Gordon lucked out and these two could just be warming up for a seven game series in the playoffs.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Zach Randolph vs. Memphis 40 min, 43 pts (FG: 16-26, FT: 11-16), 17 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk

Friday’s Game to Watch: Utah (47-24) @ San Antonio (51-20) The Spurs almost dropped an easy game against the Hornets on Wednesday, but they had a late rally and won their fifth game in a row to pull within 2 ½ games of Phoenix for the number two spot in the Western Conference playoff picture. But they are going to have to play for a full 48 minutes against the Jazz if they expect to pick up a victory. Utah has already wrapped up their division title and they have won four of their last five games thanks to Carlos Boozer who has been putting up some of his best games of the season of late. There are so many great individual match-ups when these two teams get together, hopefully we can see these two hook it up at some point in the post season.

Buzzer Beater: In October, the Cavaliers and the Magic will be meeting up for a pair of preseason contests on a neutral court in China. Talk about a road trip! Good thing there are a lot of youngsters on these squads who can recover from jetlag in a jiffy. Dwight Howard and his boys will be playing an additional game against the Chinese national team in between the other contests. But this should be becoming routine for the NBA starved nation, after all, David Stern did send their native son Yao Ming along with the Rockets to play against the Kings back in 2004. And next year the United States will send an outfit of the NBA’s best and brightest talent to Beijing for the Olympics. They did qualify for the Olympics, didn’t they?

Categories
Dallas Mavericks

Pop Quiz: Who is older? Kevin Willis or Julio Franco



Don’t call it a comeback

Talk about a guy who can’t give up the game. Kevin Willis spent 45 minutes with the Dallas Mavericks this morning working out in hopes of grabbing a roster spot as the playoffs approach. Willis was the oldest player in the NBA when he last played in 2004-05 and he hasn’t gotten any younger since. But that is definitely one guy who is not going to be eating chips and watching poker on TV during his off time. Willis still looks like he could be Dwight Howard’s little brother!

I can definitely play,” Willis said. “I’m going to work out again tomorrow and go from there.

Well, don’t worry; with Dirk Nowitzki tweaking his ankle last night, you just might get a chance. Of course, Avery Johnson will have something to say about that. Johnson didn’t comment after the workout but here’s what he said about adding a new player to the team when asked on Wednesday night.

Right now, it’s kind of the best available person if we’re going to add anybody,” Johnson said. “I’m real leery about adding anybody right now. If it’s something that makes sense, we’ll do it. But it’s got to really make sense.

And for those of you who were paying attention, you may check your grade below.

Kevin Willis – born: 9/6/1962
Julio Franco – born: 8/23/1958

Links:

[Star-Telegram.com]: Kevin Willis works out for Mavericks

Categories
General Sports

Who would have thought that Johnny Weir likes peacocks?

We don’t usually talk about ice skating but every now and then comes along a story that epitomizes the human spirit and provides hope that all life’s challenges can be triumphed. This is one of those stories.

By now everyone knows that Hollywood has created a film which depicts the rise and fall of figure skater extraordinaire Chazz Michael Michaels, entitled Blades of Glory. It’s a riveting tale of the passion and desire that it took for Michaels to return to the sport he loves so deeply.

Here’s what a few of his fellow competitors had to say about his return to the pro figure skating circuit.

Categories
St. Louis Cardinals

McGwire’s statue is collecting dust

Back in 1998, Mark McGwire was on top of the world. His newly discovered rippling muscles were smashing balls out of every park in the nation and by the end of the season he had surpassed Roger Maris’ single season record that had stood for nearly 40 years. It was obvious what was going on then but nobody wanted to taint the historic chase for glory.

Now, the Cardinals are left holding the pieces from a steroid scandal that has put McGwire’s legacy in jeopardy. Actually, the Cardinals are left holding a bronze, three-quarters life-sized statue of Big Mac following through on one of those 500 footers. Currently the statue is being held from public view in a Missouri warehouse.

There is room for the statue outside Busch Stadium where other franchise greats now reside but Cardinals president Mark Lamping says that McGwire’s statue can’t join the others until he gets elected into the hall of fame.

It really isn’t something we need to even worry about at this point because his number is not retired,” Lamping said. “If you look at the past and use that as your guide, retiring a jersey would be the guide.

Well, if that’s the criteria then you might as well start melting that bad boy down and make some company Christmas gifts with it because McGwire pretty much locked himself out of the Hall after he made a fool of himself in front of the House Government Reform Committee.

But, hey, “We’re not here to talk about the past…”

Links:

[STLToday.com]: McGwire sculpture remains under wraps

Categories
NBA General

Michael Ray Richardson puts his foot in his mouth



You’ve come a long way, baby.

You might remember Michael Ray Richardson as an NBA All-Star with a sparkling on-court resume. You might remember him as a cocaine-addicted waste of talent after he was handed a lifetime suspension in 1986 for his vice. And if you are a serious basketball junkie, then you might even know him as the coach of the CBA’s Albany Patroons. Well, after his racial explosion was revealed yesterday, he might lose his current title.

Richardson made some volatile comments to a pair of reporters from the Albany Times Union on Tuesday when discussing his latest contract offer by GM Jim Coyne.

I’ve got big-time lawyers,” Richardson said, according to the Times Union. “I’ve got big-time Jew lawyers.

The two reporters tried to inform Richardson that his comments could be found offensive by certain people but Richardson didn’t back down.

They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean?” he said. “Which I think is great. I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they’re run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they’re run by Jewish. It’s not a knock, but they are some crafty people.

Coincidently, Richardson and the Patroons both apologized for the incident but Richardson said that he didn’t feel that the suspension for the remainder of the year is fair. Richardson also said that the comments were out of nature for him. But a heckler at Albany’s game on Tuesday might disagree. The Times Union reports that Richardson blasted the fan twice during the game.

Shut the [expletive] up.” And near game’s end, he shouted at another heckler, “Shut the [expletive] up, you [derogatory term for gay men].

Way to go, it’s hard to piss off a pair of different populations in just one day. Even Michael Richards didn’t do that.

Links:

[TimesUnion.com]: Richardson loses control
[MSNBC.com]: Ex-NBA star suspended for anti-Semitic slurs

Categories
New York Knicks

Body parts wash up in the strangest places



Reunited at last?

James Dolan is a corporate big wig who is the owner of the Knicks and Rangers, CEO of Cablevision and Chairman of Madison Square Garden and earlier this morning he became the owner of a human leg that washed up on his property in Cove Neck, N.Y.

The limb was wrapped inside of a garbage bag and found by the billionaire’s landscaper. Police said that the skin was still attached to the bone which would seem to indicate that it hadn’t been floating around for too terribly long.

Now, we don’t know a lot about Cove Neck, N.Y. but this has got to hurt the resale value of the property. But hey, it’s better than what washed up in Mamaroneck. That’s where an entire women’s torso washed ashore earlier this month. The law is still unable to identify the victim.

However, one possible owner of the leg was revealed. Unfortunately, she is currently on a business trip to Hollywood for a stint on “Dancing with the Stars,” but will be notified immediately for questioning.

Links:

[WCBSTV.com]: Leg washes ashore on property of Knicks owner

Categories
NBA General

Bracket o’ babes



Your defending champions, the Miami
Heat!

Now that the madness of March has settled into a slight commotion, it’s time to turn our attention to bigger, better and more beautiful things. But that’s not hard to do when you’ve been staring at Joakim Noah and Lorenzo Mata for the past three weeks.

The NBA has a tournament of their own going on right now and involves all 30 of the league’s dance teams. That’s right, hot chicks biting and clawing each other for the golden opportunity of being named the fans’ favorite group of babes.

The beach bunnies from Miami are the reigning champions and it’s pretty easy to see why, so they were granted a first round bye in this year’s tourney as were the other finalists from Sacramento. The other 28 teams are being forced to have their popularity voted on by the fans in order to advance.

There’s nothing quite like a good chick fight and so far, the Spurs Silver Dancers have squeezed out a close one over Golden State to advance and play the Sonics hotties who destroyed the T-Wolves dance squad out West. And in the East, the Raptors girls got the best of Bean Town while Indiana’s farm girls pounded the snot out of Cleveland.

The current match-ups for your voting pleasure are Houston vs. Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta vs. Charlotte. Have fun breaking down those contests.

Links:

[NBA.com]: NBA Dance Team Bracket

Categories
Indianapolis Colts

"You are not Peyton Manning"


Some idiot in Illinois bet his friends that his beloved Chicago Bears would win the Super Bowl and if they didn’t he was going to change his name to Peyton Manning. Well, we all know how that went and since the Colts won the big game, Scott Wiese has been in court fighting for his right to humiliate himself.

He claims that the name change represents the passion that he has for da’ Bears and seems to be committed to honoring the bet. But Macon County Circuit Judge Katherine McCarthy saved his ass by ruling that the name change could possibly infringe on the privacy of the real Peyton Manning and that it was just too damn confusing.

Apparently Wiese won’t appeal the ruling but his friends will probably have something to say about their boy skipping out on his promise. We suggest making him wear a Peyton Manning jersey for the next year. Sure, it’s not permanent but it is still pretty embarrassing. Hey that beats having to follow Kenny Chesney on tour for a year.

Links:

[WishTV.com]: Judge says man can’t change name to Peyton Manning